I arranged to meet my friend Sue at Saltram House for a walk on Monday 21st October, we were meeting up at 11am but I headed out a little earlier to have a quick birding session along The Plym before our rendezvous.
It was high tide and Blaxton Meadow was the usual lake but out on the water amongst a decent sized feeding flock of Mallard were 29 Wigeon, 7 Shelduck and a male Teal. The usual waders were present too and amongst the Redshank and Curlew were 10 Greenshank and 5 Oystercatcher, also present amongst the roosting Gulls were a Common Gull and a Mediterranean Gull.
There were only 4 Mandarin Ducks (3 males) at the duck pond along with the usual assorted Mallards but there was still no sign of the female Red-crested Pochard which is presumably off on its travels again. The Moorhens at the pond were being very argumentative and regularly fighting with each other, a more usual sight in the spring.
Moorhen
Mallard
Mallard
I met Sue at the car park and it was nice to catch up on things as we put the world to rights on our walk before having a cup of tea and a scone in the cafe and on the walk back to Sainsbury's to catch the bus home I found a smart Herald Moth in the underpass.
Herald Moth
With a good day of weather forecasted after a misty start on Wednesday 23rd October we decided to head out to the Avon Dam for a walk followed by a bite of lunch in Ashburton. It was all blue skies and sunshine as we left Plymouth but by the time we arrived at the car park at Shipley Bridge it was grey and claggy. We had also forgotten that you now have to pay to park at Shipley Bridge, neither of us had any coins on us and the machine no longer accepts card payments so the only option left was to pay on the app. The only problem with this was the lack of phone signal to connect to the app so we had to park on the nearby roadside instead but at least it was free.
We headed up the valley along the River Avon towards the Dam but after only 10 minutes of walking the heavens opened and we had to shelter underneath some trees, fortunately it soon cleared over and eventually the sun did appear from behind the clouds.
The Avon Dam - no water coming over the top despite the recent rain
Most noticeable on our walk were the large amount of Rowan berries present on the trees and the large number of Redwings busily gorging themselves on them, I've never seen so many of either here before. The Redwings were very skittish and mobile and regularly took to the skies but amongst them I found a few Blackbird, a Song Thrush and 2 Mistle Thrush and best of all at least 4 Ring Ouzels.
Ring Ouzel
Ring Ouzel
The Ring Ouzels were equally as skittish and mobile as the Redwings, the most I saw together were 4 birds but more were undoubtedly present. However I did get some very nice views of them at times and they were a joy to watch as always and especially after last years Ouzel-less visit here.
Ring Ouzel
Ring Ouzel
Ring Ouzel
Ring Ouzel
Ring Ouzel
It was off to the River Exe and Bowling Green Marsh on Thursday 24th October with my mate Mavis for a birdy day out. We arrived at the hide at around 9:30am to find it totally empty and so we set ourselves up in prime positions to view the assorted birdlife out on the Marsh in front of us.
We scanned around and quickly found the reported Long-billed Dowitcher feeding in amongst the roosting Redshank quite close to the hide. It was quite a feisty thing, regularly pecking at the Redshanks if they came too close and also having a go at nearby Wigeon, Pintail and Black-tailed Godwit. Also amongst the Redshank were 3 Spotted Redshank, a Dunlin and a Curlew while elsewhere a large flock of Black-tailed Godwit contained a Ruff.
Long-billed Dowitcher
Long-billed Dowitcher
Spotted Redshank
Spotted Redshank
A hunting Sparrowhawk, Peregrine and Marsh Harrier caused some consternation and upset amongst the roosting birds and they regularly took to the air but the Long-billed Dowitcher always returned to the same spot.
With the reported Snow Buntings still being present at nearby Budleigh Salterton we decided to move on and go and look for them. On arriving at the Lime Kiln car park we could see some birders watching them out on the shingle beach where the River Otter flows out into the sea but by the time we got to them the birds had flown off! A fruitless search ensued but after around 20 minutes I caught sight of them in flight along the beach and we enjoyed some amazingly close views of them feeding amongst the pebbles just a few feet away - absolutely gorgeous birds and a great end to a great day out.
Snow Bunting
Snow Bunting
Snow Bunting
Snow Bunting
Snow Bunting
Snow Buntings
Snow Bunting
Snow Bunting
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